


Flatline

by Silver85



Series: Heartbeats and Irregularities [1]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: EMT AU, F/F, Paramedic - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-02-02 02:08:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12717537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver85/pseuds/Silver85
Summary: People hear the sirens and seldom get out of the way. Its a race against death as Paramedic Karnstein and Paramedic Lafontaine fight to save lives while struggling through the challenges of their own. Things get shaken up when Reporter Laura Hollis shadows them on the job for the local paper. Somewhere along the line love blossoms, lives are changed, and truths are revealed.





	Flatline

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! 
> 
> As you may notice, Flatline was taken down sometime last year when it was starting the publication process. There was a bit of upset readers and I apologize that I had to take it down. 
> 
> I've recently started writing again and working on the sequel to this piece called Resuscitation. Many have asked if I would post Flatline again and I am under some conditions. I'm only going to post a few chapters for now. I'm hoping that it will create some interest and direct readers to purchase the book to help support this writer. 
> 
> Flatline is available in its entirety on Amazon as a physical copy or an e-book. Just search for Flatline by Meagan Spears. You are also welcome to order directly from me and I'll send it signed with a few goodies. You can find it at my website meaganlspearswriter.com or by contacting my facebook @AuthorMSpears. If you can, be sure to like my facebook as I will be doing giveaways during the holidays and you could win a copy for free. 
> 
> Not that all that's been said, enjoy the original work of the fanfic Flatline. Please note this is the version before edits for the published work.

The pit was busy today, just like it normally was when she’d come into work. She smiled at her coworkers as she made her way to her desk where she was happy to unload her heavy bag. She sat at her and loaded up her computer while looking across at the empty desk that was pushed against hers. It wasn’t likely she’d see her desk buddy just like always. She tried not to let it bother her especially when she had to share the byline with the stranger. The day would come when she’d get her break and finally have her own story and not have to share the responsibilities with anyone who didn’t care about their job like she did. She was sure from the horror stories she’d heard from coworkers that they’d all been through something similar. 

“How’s it going, Hollis?” Maggie stopped by her desk and snuck her a cookie. Maggie was a foot taller than her and brunette with olive skin. She was also just as much of a cookie addict as she was which made Maggie her work BFF. They always sat together while going over assignments and did read-throughs for each other and on paydays they went out drinking together. As far as work friends went, they were close. 

“Just waiting for my email to load. How’s the day for you?” She smiled around her bite of chocolate chip cookie while turning back to the loading page on her computer. She groaned at the sheer amount of unread messages she had waiting for her. Between fluff pieces she was assigned that she always followed up with on her work blog and her personal blog that she still ran from college, she always had an impressive amount of emails to answer. 

“Seems that Mr. Lewis is on a rampage today. Apparently, someone missed a huge scoop the other day, and we weren’t on top of it. You’re not going to have to worry about that empty desk as a neighbor anymore,” Maggie leaned forward from sitting on her desk just as turned in her seat.

“Wait! They got themselves fired? Does this mean I’m getting a new partner?” She bounced in her seat in excitement. Finally, things looking up and perhaps she’d get some exciting stories and have someone work with her properly. 

“I’m not sure, but I do know that Mr. Lewis wants to see you once you’ve logged in,” Maggie stood from where she was propped on Laura’s desk and offered her another cookie with a smile. Her stomach quivered in anticipation of having to see Mr. Lewis. She couldn’t possibly be in trouble because he’d complimented her work last week and she wasn’t part of the weekend crew like her ex-desk buddy was so she couldn’t be responsible for missing out on a story. Maybe it was a new partner or maybe she was finally getting her story. Was that too much to hope for? 

“Holy crap!” She jerked from her seat and straightened out her cardigan. Maggie gave her a pat on the shoulder as she nodded to herself as she went through a mental pep talk. She walked with confidence and made her way across the pit towards Mr. Lewis office. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before knocking on his office door. She heard Mr. Lewis call her in, and she walked through his office door with her best air of confidence and a smile. 

“Hollis, good morning,” He greeted her with a smile and waved for her to sit down while he motioned to the speaker at his ear. She sat up straight and waited as he finished his conversation. His office was immaculate and the closer she looked she noticed that everything was at an angle or perpendicular to whatever it was next to. It was easy to tell that everything had its place in his office. That was something she could admire about her boss. He ended his call and set the earpiece back on its charging dock, “Thank you for not keeping me waiting this morning. I like that in my employees, a sense of urgency and responsibility.” He dropped himself into his chair, hands folded in his lap, “Responsibility. Something that a journalist needs to have. A responsibility to our paper, our readers and most importantly our community. Is this something you believe as well?” 

“I take my job seriously Mr. Lewis, responsibility is a part of that,” She sat up straighter and with a nod to affirm her answer. 

“That’s what I like to hear Hollis. So I’m giving you your first solo assignment. Are you ready?” He rocked in his chair, watching her carefully. She knew her excitement for a solo assignment was evident, and she wasn’t going to try and hide that when her dream was coming true. 

“I am ready, sir. Whatever the assignment is I’m all over it,” She bounced a little just waiting for Mr. Lewis to let her know what she’d be covering. 

“I like your excitement, so I’m not worried about assigning you this piece. We are going to be doing a few articles to bring awareness to what our emergency centers are doing for the community and shedding a light on the life of the personnel. You’ll be shadowing in a chosen police station, firehouse, and paramedic station. They have community activities planned that I want you to cover as well. Be sure to get some interviews and photos,” He leaned forward, resting his interlocked hands on the edge of his desk. 

“I will not let you down sir,” She bounced some more and stood from her seat. 

“I hold you to it, Hollis. I’ll have Mrs. Berry forward you the contact and details. I expect an initial write-up by the end of the month,” He reached for his earpiece again and gave her a parting smile. She practically bounced out of his office and back to her desk. Her first solo assignment and she couldn’t wait to get out and get started. Her message box dinged and she pulled up the small screen along with her emails. Maggie wanted to know what she’d been summoned into Mr. Lewis's office for. She looked above her screen and across the pit to where Maggie’s desk was. She shot Maggie two thumbs up before messaging her back that she’d gotten her first solo assignment. She could hear the squeal of excitement from across the pit. Her email dinged as her job details came in. She didn’t waste any time reading through the information and writing everything down on her small legal pad. She immediately emailed someone named Lola Perry, a lieutenant at the paramedic station along with sending one to an Officer Danny Lawrence at the police station and an Elsie Wilson at the fire station. She didn’t expect to hear back from anyone immediately so she began to compile questions to ask during interviews with each group. She bounced as she wrote, her excitement still bubbling. Some would consider this a fluff piece, not important or focused on the main events but every story was important to her. People out there, in her city, were going to read her article, and it was going to be about the men and women who dedicated themselves to helping them and saving them. No, this wasn’t a fluff piece, and she was honored with the opportunity to be the one to write it. 

 

************

The sun was starting to set and during this time of year, that meant her shift would start soon. That didn’t stop her from leaning up against her bike, helmet in one hand and lit cigarette in the other. It was her preshift ritual and after yesterday's shit and her current throbbing headache, she wasn’t going to miss her preshift smoke. She kicked her boot against her bag and noticed some of her pins were starting to pull through the fabric. She grunted as she knelt down. Her two favorite pins; one an ambulance with the text saying ‘save an ambulance, ride an EMT’, and the other a pink heart with the wording ‘cute enough to stop your heart, skilled enough to restart it.' Both were given to her by her partner Lafontaine. Laf would never let her hear the end of it if she’d lost them. She repositioned them and briefly thought of buying a new backpack, but she was attached to this one, which was telling in how worn the material was. Eventually, she’d be riding on her bike, and the bag would split, throwing her uniform and stuff out onto the street. Maybe she should buy a new one just to save herself the shit of having to deal with that.

She took another long drag of her cigarette before stomping it out. She pulled her bag over her shoulder and rolled her neck, her vertebrae cracking loudly with relief. She sighed letting her head fall back as she walked into the station. 

“She’s alive!” Lafontaine all but yelled it as she made her way through the lobby and towards the locker. “How’s the hangover?” Lafontaine followed her into the locker room and took a seat on the bench while she pulled open her locker and shrugged out of her motorcycle jacket. The soft leather bunched in her handle as she hung it up. 

“It would be better if you were quieter,” She grumbled. She opened her backpack and pulled out her uniform. It was still freshly ironed from the morning, but she spread it out over the bench and smoothed any wrinkles she spotted. Satisfied she turned back to her backpack and pulled out her belt, boots, and badge. 

“Sorry chicka, you know the drill. You get crazy drunk, and we get crazy with your hangover. But I did do you a solid and did the preshift check for the rig. We’re ready to roll, you just gotta get dressed,” Laf slapped at their knees making as much noise as possible and grinning as Carmilla winced with each slap of hand against the knee. Laf took it a step further and started tapping out a beat against the bench. 

She growled and lurched forward, pinning both of their arms down and giving her best ‘I’ll fucking kill you’ stares. They shrugged with their shit eating grin. “Leave so I can get dressed. Otherwise, I’m going to be late, and Perry will have both our asses,” She released their arms and turned back to her locker. Lafontaine jumped up from the bench and slapped her on the shoulder.

“I’ll go double count the supplies to buy you some time,” They climbed over the seat and hit at some locker doors on their way out. Her temples throbbed, and she rubbed at them softly. She needed coffee and to give Lafontaine a swift kick in the ass for being an annoying prick. She stretched again, this time pulling her arms over her head and felt her spine pop a handful of occasions. She had gotten drunk last night, so drunk she hadn’t made it to her bed or her couch. She’d woken this afternoon just a few feet from her door which was unlocked, not that she lived in a bad neighborhood, but she had a nice tv she didn’t want to be looted from her loft. 

She started to strip so she could change into her pants and boots. She wanted another smoke, but that wasn’t an option since she was apparently running late now. She dressed quickly, following her routine and finished by buckling her watch on and hanging the dog tags that were around her neck in her locker with her leather jacket. She made sure her badge was proper and then she was closing her locker softly not to jar her hangover any more than she already had. 

She left the locker room just as the previous shift were coming back. She ran into Perry who was suspiciously close to Lafontaine near the supply closet. If she weren't in desperate need for coffee to become functional, she would have broken out her closet jokes. Instead, she settled for something mild, “I was going to make a gay joke, butt fuck it.”

Lafontaine snorted while Perry looked at her appalled, “Carmilla!” 

“Classic jokes already. It seems someone just needs a cup of coffee, and they’ll be their usual self,” Lafontaine handed her the second cup of coffee in their hand. She popped the lid off, barely breathing past the steam before taking a sizeable sip and ignoring the burn on her tongue and down her throat. She would suffer it for the nectar of life she was gulping down. 

“She’ll have to keep those jokes in check around the children this week,” Perry tapped at her clipboard before checking her watch while she nearly choked on the coffee she was inhaling. 

“I’m sorry, did you say the c-word?” She replaced the lid on her coffee and shot Lafontaine a look. 

“That’s right. You and Lafontaine were volunteered to teach the community youth center CPR this week. You will not refer to them as the ‘c-word’ as you so elegantly put it and you are not to make your jokes. You will also be doing an interview for the paper. I expect you two to represent this station with the highest quality. Now if my watch is correct, which we know it is, you two should be in your rig and be heading out,” Perry gave her a stern look before shooting Lafontaine the smile reserved for her. 

“Perry, I don’t..” She was cut off with a look that was reserved mostly for her since none of the other EMTs were daring enough to tick Perry off, a hobby she was rather skilled. 

“Go. Have a good shift and I’ll see you for breakfast,” Perry returned to her clipboard giving Lafontaine one last smile. 

She grabbed her gear bag from the floor beside Laf and headed towards their rig. The red of their rig was comforting to her and seeing Silas County Ambulance Service (SCAS) stamped on the side always made her proud when climbing inside. Her greatest achievement in life was becoming a medic. She’d never believed she’d amount to anything in her youth with her nightlife and stupid choices, and here she was with a badge on her chest, coffee in hand, and climbing into the passenger seat of her rig. Or as Lafontaine would always remind her, their rig. As far as partners went, she was blessed to have Laf. They kept up with her inappropriate jokes, her drinking, and knew how to pull her out of 'funks' if she didn’t hide the signs quick enough. Lafontaine was adept at reading her after years of working together and being there for her through trauma and tragedy, and that made them family. 

“Alright, let us get on the road,” Lafontaine started the truck up, and they were on their way, a twelve-hour shift staring them down. It was Monday night, and hopefully, it would be a mild one considering the shit night they had yesterday. 

“So this CPR thing we have to do, how serious is Perry about making us do it?” She sipped on her coffee and propped a boot up on the dash. She smirked at the glare they shot at her, but they both knew she wasn’t going to unprop her boot until a call came in. They drove until they reached their post, a different street corner than the previous night which she was grateful. 

“This is a big deal apparently, especially with a write up in the paper over it. Something about community awareness and fundraising. It’ll also make Perry look good, and she knows I would do anything to help that, and you always owe me favors,” They parked the rig and pulled out their phone, typing out a quick text. 

“Why do I always owe you favors?” She propped one arm behind her head and stared out over the street, watching headlights pass them by in a steady rhythm. It was hypnotizing and something she found relaxing whether working or not. 

“Because I’m always saving your ass. Do you not remember three weeks ago?” They joked trying to bring light to the situation that she owed them for keeping her out of jail, and she owed them for not making a big deal out of it, or telling Perry, or letting that big red police dog be the one almost to arrest her. 

“Let’s forget about that. So what’s the debate for tonight?” The coffee cup was empty, so she dumped it into the cup holder and the checked her watch. Ten minutes in at post and no calls yet, maybe it would be a slow night. 

“Twix or Snickers?” They asked and before she could even roll her eyes a call came in over the computer. They started the rig, turned on the sirens, and did an immediate u-turn once checking it was safe to do so. 

She reached for the radio, “307 responding.” She pulled gloves and stuffed her pocket. The call was for possible cardiac arrest, and she mentally prepared herself as Lafontaine navigated traffic and swerved around assholes who had to possibly be deaf not to hear the sirens and move out of the way. Normally that would piss her off, and once she was angry it festered in her chest like a bad infection but when on duty she maintained a calm that many had told her they were jealous. It was hard sometimes keeping emotions at bay, especially cases involving kids, but she always managed to keep those emotions in check until she was off the clock. Most times she’d be out the door and on her bike before letting her emotions sweep her up after those bad shifts. But during work, she was in control, and she had a job to do. 

The rig pulled to a stop, and she was quick to radio, “Unit 307, 10-21.” They were out of the vehicle grabbing their bags and the defibrillator, placing them on the stretcher and quickly making their way into the restaurant. “Make room please!” She worked them through the crowd and assessed the situation. The fire department was already on scene and doing CPR on the patient. The group pulled back and gave them room to reach the man unconscious on the ground. She dropped beside him, pulled her gloves on, and checked him over, “Sir? Can you hear me? Sir?” He didn’t respond, not that she expected him to. 

Lafontaine dropped down beside her, “I’ll take over Elsie.” They worked as quickly and thoroughly as they could. Muscle memory took over as she pulled what they needed from their bags as she focused on getting the patient's heart started again. All sounds surrounding her faded into the background as she focused on her patient and her partner. She got a line started as well as a tube. When the patient was stable enough, they worked to get him on the ventilator and proceeded to get the backboard underneath him so they could move him to the stretcher. Elsie helped with the lift and was giving Laf as much information as she’d gathered before they arrived. They loaded the man into the back, and Laf climbed in to continue to ventilate the patient as she rushed to the drivers' seat. 

“Unit 307, 10-16,” She radioed as she pulled out from the restaurant and weaved them through traffic on the way to the nearest hospital. She was relieved that most drivers at this time of night were smart enough to get out of their way. They reached the hospital in good time, and she pulled up under the awning where a resident was waiting for them. She parked the rig and jumped out to open the doors in the back. 

She didn’t slow down until the patient was relieved from their care and then started their paperwork. She cracked her neck again after loading the stretcher back into the rig. “So Elsie is looking good tonight,” Laf smiled at her as they prepped to go back out. 

“Been there, done that, not one for seconds,” She remarked as she jumped back into the passenger seat. 

“Oh come on! She’s looking hot, and you could use a thaw out,” Laf pulled out from the hospital radioed in that they were back in service. They made their way back to their post; her boot kicked back up on the dash again as she picked at her nails.

“I could say the same for you. When are you two red hots going to get red hot with each other?” She shot her a look through her bangs and couldn’t help her smirk becoming a smile at the redness in their cheeks. 

“It’s complicated, and you know it,” They shot back, putting the rig in park and reaching to check their phone. 

“You work together; you are neighbors, and you two have the long history. It’s like a bad romance novel without the sex,” She huffed and rubbed at her eyes. Her hangover was gone now, but she needed another cup of coffee. 

“So much for you to say. You’re nothing but pent up sexual tension that's about to explode on the next cute thing you see. Elsie is familiar and wouldn’t mind another round with you, and you can lose some tension, and I don’t have to worry about you exploding,” Laf pulled up Hulu on their phone and searched through her favorites to find the show they watched together. Working the overnight shift, they didn’t get to watch tv so they would watch when they could between calls. 

“Play your stupid show and stop talking about this. I can get myself laid just fine on my own,” She leaned her head back against the headrest and looked down at their screen as the new episode loaded. 

“Fine. Just remember that every time you bring up my sex situation, I’ll bring up yours. If you don’t want to be beaten at your own game then go get you some,” Their laughter drowned out the first few seconds of the episode and then it was quite as Laf was sucked into the weekly drama they were addicted to. 

They had a few more calls that night, but it was rather calm. They took the rig back to the station and since Laf prepped she cleaned up and filled the rig for the next shift. She wished she hadn’t forgotten her sunglasses as the sun was rather annoying already. She loved the overnight shift since she was a natural night owl but soon as that pesky ball of energy circled to her part of the world; she would immediately get cranky just as she was right now as a sun ray was pounding into her tired eyes. She sighed in relief as she made it back into the locker room, tossing the rig keys to Betty, their relief, “Rigs ready for you.”

Betty just moved past her, swinging the keys around her finger. She rolled her eyes at the pettiness and was glad she didn’t have to deal with her today more than that interaction. It was worse if she was taking the rig instead since Betty always had comments for her. She was sure she’d hear something the next shift. Laf bounced around the corner back in their street clothes with a happy smile. It was too late in her day and too early in the morning to deal with anything cheery. 

“Perry is taking us to breakfast. We’re going to talk about the CPR class we’re doing tomorrow afternoon,” They plopped down on the bench and tied their shoes as she stripped out of her uniform, unclipping her badge and putting it in the pocket of her backpack before shoving her uniform into the bottom of it. She had the night off which meant she would do her laundry, so she wasn’t worried about how she shoved her stuff back into her bag. The first thing she put on from her locker where the dog tags that were hanging with her jacket. She dressed and sat to put on her boots when Perry walked into the locker room.

“Morning ladies, have a good shift?” She hovered by the door to the locker room dressed in her casual clothes which always made her double take, especially when Perry had her mom jeans on and a turtleneck tucked in. Laf had to have a screw loose to find outfits like that attractive, but she knew it was entirely the person in the clothes that Laf was head over heels for. 

“The fact that its morning means the shift is over, and that is good,” She zipped up her boots and stood to get her jacket, pulled it on and slammed her locker shut. She reached to pull her helmet down from above her locker and tossed her backpack over her shoulder. Now all she wanted was smoke and a shot of whiskey. 

“Meet us at O'Connell's?” Laf looked back to her heading towards the lobby with Perry. She nodded because of course, where else would they have breakfast then the only place that served pancakes with alcohol; which is pretty much the only place she ate. She wasn’t far behind them leaving the station lobby. She watched them drive off in Laf’s large truck when she started her bike up so it would warm while she did her safety check. She put on her helmet, securing the strap as she mounted her bike. She kicked up the kickstand and dropped the shade in her helmet. With a roar of her motorcycle, she was quick to follow the familiar route to their usual hang out after shift. 

The beautiful thing about having a bike in the city was that it wasn’t hard to find a parking spot. It was even easier when Laf found a parking spot before her because she just slid her bike in sideways behind it. It was considered illegal, but most cops recognized her bike and ignored it when it was parked in front of O'Connell's at 9 in the morning. She propped her helmet on her handlebar and ran a hand through her hair as she jogged across the sidewalk and into the restaurant bar. She tried not to groan out loud when she noticed Clifford the dog and Elsie already at the table with Laf and Perry. 

“For someone with a bike, you sure do always show up last,” Elsie joked which got a glare from Danny. 

“If she beat us here I’d have to give her a ticket on principal,” Danny’s eyes lingered on Elsie as she laughed at her joke. 

“Real funny. I’ll laugh when you are humorous,” She plopped down in her seat and smiled at the shot of whiskey Laf slid in front of her. She quickly drowned the liquid relief and sighed in content. 

“Before you have a few more of those, which you know I don’t recommend, we should talk about this project we’re doing with the local paper,” Perry pulled out her tablet and loaded up her emails. 

“Wait, these two have to suffer as well? I might endure this just fine then,” She joked before the waitress distracted her with taking her order. 

“It’s a great opportunity to bring community awareness to what is we do and what we sacrifice for our profession. It might even bring in more donations and volunteers. Plus we’ll be teaching critical life-saving skills to the youth and parents of our neighborhoods,” Perry tapped her fingers against the screen of her tablet, scolding her with words instead of her typical glare. 

“So why do I have to do it?” She asked awaiting her next shot of whiskey.

“Because you and Laf are the best paramedics I have, and we want to put our best face forward,” Perry shot back.

“Okay, but here’s the thing, I don’t like kids,” She quipped. 

“Why be a paramedic if you don’t like kids?” Elsie chirped in with confusion.

“I’ll save their little lives, but I don’t want to play nice with them in the park,” She rolled her eyes and slumped back into her seat.

“Which is why you’ll demonstrate while Lafontaine talks. That will minimize your snark in front of the kids. As for the interview, you’ll need to control yourself because sadly I can’t micromanage that interaction. I trust Lafontaine to keep you in check,” Perry set her tablet down with a contented huff.

“Tall order babe,” They chimed in while drumming their hands against the edge of the table. 

“We already met with her today and did our interviews and station walkthroughs. She’s nice,” Elsie spoke up.

“Yeah, she’s something,” Danny added with a lopsided grin. Gross; the dog, had puppy eyes going on. “Her name is Laura Hollis, and this is her first solo piece, so she is enthusiastic and energized which means miss snark over here will probably not like her at all.”

“Shut up, Clifford. I don’t hate people on principal. They just have one chance not to annoy me, and they typically fuck that up as soon as they speak to me,” She curled her lip in disgust at even having to defend herself against the one person who annoyed her the most. The conversation was halted as their food was placed in front of them. She immediately tore into her bacon and ignored all of them as they talked more about the journalist and this project they’d been roped into. She dreaded tomorrow afternoon when she would have to actively play nice but as least she had the night off to get some proper sleep which is all she craved once her bacon was settled in her stomach.


End file.
